Q. May we pray to angels like we do to the saints? Do the angels have any special powers?

A. Here’s a reply from Father Reginald Martin:

When we wish for something, we not only will what we desire, but whatever enables us to achieve our goal. Thus when we pray the Our Father and say, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we ask God to provide the grace we need to achieve the full potential of our actions so we may join those who revel in the joys of heaven. This includes the angels, who remained faithful to God from the beginning.

Their task is to glorify and serve God. St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard, St. Basil and St. Jerome all wrote on the guardian angels, basing their words on Jesus’ words, “See that you do not despise these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (Mt 18:10). According to Ludwig Ott, in his “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, “Every one of the faithful has his own special guardian anger from baptism” (p. 120). The Catechism of the Catholic Church also discusses the angels (see Nos. 328-336).

Why should we not cultivate the friendship of the angels who work for our salvation? A prayer to our guardian angel begs, “be at my side to light, to guard, to rule and guide.”